He was elected to be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee at the 17th Party Congress, heading up the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in charge of stamping out corruption with party officials, replacing Wu Guanzheng.
At a meeting in August 2006 with members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, Wu Guanzheng, of the Communist Party of China, confirmed the intention of the People's Republic of China to fund a study into the feasibility of constructing a railway connecting at Isaka with the existing Tanzanian railway network, and running via Kigali in Rwanda through to Burundi.